Abort, Retry or Ignore?
by C A Moore
Summary: A few little bits about the divergence of the After That Day AU from volume 3. Context: Ironwood installed a security program on his scroll, Cinder's plan is FUBAR, nobody loses an arm. Ch1: Ruby stops Adam disarming Yang, ineffectually taunts him for a while, then lets him get away. Ch2: Blake tries to run away, Yang stops her with the power of crying. Ch3 Torchwick has a bad day
1. Adam

A/N: Have been thinking about where exactly my After That Day timeline should diverge from canon (although conceived during vol2-vol3 hiatus most of vol3 is quite compatible, and who can resist extra character/mythology develoment). So alternate vol3 conclusion: basically if Ironwood had a decent security program on his scroll, Cinder's plan is FUBAR.

"CMEN is evil"

"Ruby!" Weiss scolded, blushing slightly at the apparently lewd segue.

"Cinder, Mercury, Emerald and Neo, C-M-E-N" Ruby explained, smiling at Weiss's discomfort.

"You did that on purpose." Weiss frowned, "So it was Cinder's team, but they didn't catch them?" she walked beside Ruby as they searched for Yang and Blake. The White fang had dropped Grimm and some fighters onto the school grounds and the arena but the Atlas forces were already making progress clearing them.

"It was close but they saw us coming and got to a ship. Mercury was running pretty fast for a guy with a broken leg so I guess Yang is in the clear"

"Did Ironwood say anything about this?" Weiss gestured to the battle around them

"He didn't say much; I think he was trying to find out how I knew about Emerald"

"But you didn't know about Emerald"

Ruby smiled "It was a guess, but I'm pretty sure she has some sort of illusion semblance, that's the only way they could have worked it with Yang. Velvet gave me a clue, and when Ironwood was looking for Emerald it all fell into place"

Obvious, right. This was a problem in her schoolwork too. "Ruby, show your working" Weiss prompted irritably

"I knew of two cases where people had seen things that weren't real, and Emerald's team was there in both cases. Then the General shows up with two dozen guys looking for a green haired girl" Ruby shrugged to indicate she felt the logic was obvious from there "When I asked him about Emerald by name he was so surprised he let slip that they found a take over of the CCT and that someone fixed the fight match-ups. That means it must have been Cinder on the night of the dance. Probably Torchwick and the train too" Ruby finished proudly.

"You didn't get any more?"

"Ironwood had to leave do deal with something on his ship. I think Torchwick escaped" Ruby shrugged

"I can't believe he told you that much"

"Ironwood likes me. All I had to do was -"

Weiss found herself looking at a cloud of rose petals. Hearing the sound of clashing blades she whirled around to see Ruby in a standoff with a very angry looking redhead wearing a White Fang mask. The noise must have been Ruby's scythe blocking that red blade. Absorbing more of the scene she made out Yang getting up off the ground, eyes red, Aura in full flame... it looked like Ruby had knocked her out of the way when she engaged the faunus.

"Yang, we've got this. Take care of Blake" Ruby's voice was harsh, angry. Weiss realised something had scared her, presumably about Yang. The redhead sheathed his weapon, smiling unpleasantly. There was something sinister about that blade, its wielder too. Belatedly, Weiss caught sight of Blake huddled on the ground, presumably injured.

Yang was quivering with emotion. Ignoring Ruby's command she clenched her fists and tensed, ready to charge again.

"Yang," Ruby's tone was even firmer this time "Blake needs your help" her sister wavered only slightly, and it appeared her words would again fail, but at that moment Blake moaned quietly. Yang turned to look at her partner, the flames dimming, then back to her sister for a moment. Finally she rushed over to Blake, gently picked her up and carefully carried her off towards the airship dock. Throughout the whole exchange Ruby's gaze had remained fixed on her opponent, not even glancing away as her sister left.

"Running away, you are a good match" Yang's footsteps continued evenly, not faltering at the taunt. Adam grunted in annoyance, he had really been looking forward to cutting her arm off. Sighing, he turned his attention to the remaining team members. Ruby had remained still since their initial clash, while Weiss had moved during Yang's retreat so that the three of them where roughly at the points of an equilateral triangle, the two girls effectively cornering him.

"I'll deal with Blake and her hothead girlfriend later. I get to kill a Schnee and the infamous Ruby Rose, not a bad consolation prize" He paused, prepared to savour the fear, but getting no reaction from the girls added "Do you know who I am?"

"Adam Taurus" Weiss spat his name, filling each word with disgust.

He made a show of easing his blade in its sheath before continuing "I have never been defeated"

Weiss cut in "Ambushes, bombings, sabotage. Picking on the innocent, the weak and the unprepared. Quite the champion" she finished with a sneer. Ruby gave her a slight nod of approval.

Adam continued anger filling every syllable "Every human who fought me has died"

Ruby spoke to him for the first time  
"Yet here you are, working for a human"

Adam's hand clenched on the hilt. Spread out and staying back like that they were a difficult target. He was sure he could beat Ruby with strength and Weiss with strength or speed, but the moment he went for one he would be exposed to the other. Taking down Ruby would take too long, not to mention the risk of turning his back on a Schnee; hitting Weiss was the best chance, but he hadn't seen enough of Ruby's speed in their initial contact to know if he could make it. Safest to provoke a mistake.  
"Traitor. Dumb Blonde. Ice Princess." Slightly turning her head Ruby mouthed something to Weiss who nodded in acknowledgement; Adam ignored them, "Led by a child. I suppose they picked you because you were the only one who hadn't failed yet!"

"Is that it?" Ruby raised an eyebrow "No sign of the horns, just a whole lot of bull." She finished with a nod to Weiss

Picking up Ruby's cue, Weiss made a show of frowning thoughtfully before speaking "I don't know about bull," she glanced at Adam disdainfully, "seems more like Cinder's tame steer"

With an inarticulate roar of rage he leaped to bring Weiss within his strike range. He had hardly moved when the savage leap became an undignified retreat as he barely brought his blade around in time to block Ruby's scythe, inches from his neck. Continuing her assault Ruby spent the remainder of her forward momentum, her knee connecting solidly with his groin. Landing oh her feet, she didn't even pause rotating her body and kicking off his chest, his hand closing on empty air as he lunged to keep her in range of his retaliation. Crouching to brace himself, still focused on Ruby, he was hit by a dust attack from Weiss before he react, let alone focus to absorb it. Thanks to his Aura, Weiss's attack was more of a blow to his pride than anything else, but due to the suddenness and sheer effrontery of the attack his Aura had not been sufficient to entirely blunt Ruby's assault on his manhood.

His testicles where aching, Schnee had a disgusting smirk on her face and Ruby, Adam growled in his chest at the insult, Ruby had holstered her weapon and taken off her cape waving it beside her miming a bullfight. They didn't even take him seriously. He glanced wildly between them, torn between which one to kill first. Right now he would walk past old man Schnee himself, bound, gagged, and delivered, for just one good shot at those infuriating little bitches. The shocking realisation helped him gather his thoughts.  
"So, daddy's little disappointment takes orders from the class clown?"

Weiss smiled fondly "Yes, I do."

Although he hadn't expected much Weiss's reaction was disappointing, Ruby's was enlightening, dropping her cape and drawing her weapon, resuming the focused vigilance of their initial standoff. As he syphoned his disorienting anger into solid, comforting hate, he watched her becoming more and more tense, edging closer to Weiss. No, she hadn't underestimated him, she was playing him. Even that close shave with the scythe, she had been careful, opting to keep her body behind her weapon rather than choose a more effective attack. Just students, and ultimately they stood no chance; sooner or later he would find an opening, it was just a matter of time. Time! He quickly broadened his focus - the sounds of chaos had been retreating overtaken by the sounds of order, screams and growls giving way to barked orders, marching troops... coming this way. Ruby was quite close to her partner now, leaving him the option of hitting them both head on, or taking advantage of the opening to retreat; it was a pretty good chance, likely they would only get in a couple of shots before he reached cover.

Moving a little to quickly in his eagerness to escape the White Fang soldier literally stumbled into the scene. As Adam recognised the familiar figure, his initial elation was damped "Perry."

"Sir." Perry took up position beside his superior.

Adam put his hand on his subordinate's shoulder "Hold these two while I get reinforcements" Perry's back straightened and his chest swelled at his responsibility as he listened to his commander's footsteps rapidly fading into the distance. Very rapidly. Belatedly he realised he was holding a light rifle facing two huntresses. Deflating again he spoke  
"He's not coming back, is he?"

A/N Long: When re-watching volume 3 recently I was bemoaning their complete lack of computer security when I realised that was a neat divergence point - assume there was a moment when Ironwood had the choice to install a security program on his scroll - canon he doesn't, AtD he does.  
I had this whole plot about internal bureaucracy in the Atlas military, inter branch rivalries, security clearance levels and scroll data transfer protocols.. but given my writing backlog I figured I should just focus on the aspects involving team RWBY.  
Security program sets of alerts when Ironwood's scroll is infected and it all snowballs from there - Cinder doesn't find out about Penny, Atlas military trace the infection back to the CCT and find out about the fixed match-ups (which implicate Cinder and co)... no shocking PvP fight, lost control of the CCT (and the robots, since Ironwood would have locked down his systems first thing) and on the run Cinder only has plan B - the White Fang and air dropped Grimm, embarrassing for the authorities but nowhere enough panic to wake the dragon, or bring in hordes of wild Grimm... consistent with my AtD history where they stay at Beacon for the full four years with the Cinder's plan only reaching its climax a few years after that.


	2. Blake and Yang

A/N: The end of vol3 did some very interesting exploration of the weaknesses of Yang and Blake's characters, couldn't resist the chance to pull a little of that into this, even without a lost arm.

Yang sat despondently on the bench at the airship terminal, she couldn't understand why Ruby told her to wait here. Blake wouldn't be discharged until tomorrow, and she just wanted to lie in bed.

She was shocked out of her moping by the sight of her partner, moving slowly and unsteadily with an untidily packed duffel bag slung over her shoulder.  
"Blake?"

The brunette startled on hearing her name, then winced. "Yang." Her response was closed, wary.

"You were going to just leave? Without saying goodbye?" The blonde's reaction was steeped in disbelief.

"I-" Blake chocked, the excuses that came so easily to mind evading her now she needed to speak. She turned quickly, better to go before disbelief turned into anger.

"I'm sorry" it was quiet, almost a whimper, but it froze the faunus in her tracks. She turned to find Yang crumpled, her face in her hands. There was moisture, tears she realised with a shock. She had seen Yang cry after the Mercury fight, but this was different. Seeing Yang like this when she couldn't imagine the reason, it made her want to run more than ever, but she just couldn't. She awkwardly took off the bag and sat down beside her partner.

"Yang, what do you mean?" She hesitantly stroked the other girl's back.

"You got hurt. I should have protected you" Yang's voice was quiet and crackly.

Blake was better at self recrimination than comfort, "That was my own fault. I was careless"

Yang rambled on "Ruby was so mad, I've never seen her like that. Like she thought I was just going to get myself hurt"

"I'm sure she was just worried about you"

Yang unfolded enough to look her partner in the eye "But you thought so too, didn't you"

Blake sighed, so Yang did hear her cry out before she charged. "Yang, Adam is very dangerous. I've seen him kill with a single strike; even a Hunter" sensing she had Yang's attention she continued "That's why I have to leave. If I go he will have no reason to come after any of you. You will be safe"

"Except Ruby kneed him in the crotch" in addition to announcing their teammates presence, Weiss's comment caused the young man who had walked up on their arrival to shift uncomfortably and retreat to the other end of the platform.

"Weiss called him a steer" Ruby pointed out defensively

Despite her recent blood loss Blake still managed to pale considerably "Why? Why would you do that?" Adam had killed people for less; his own people.

"It was a Ruby plan. Besides, he already wanted to kill me. Schnee, remember" Weiss pointed at herself.

"Ironwood chased him halfway to Mistral, he's not coming back here anytime soon" Ruby pointed out.

"So you'll stay?" Yang asked, a hopeful smile breaking out as she picked up Blake's bag and held it possessively.

"I guess I have no choice" Blake couldn't help smiling in response.


	3. Torchwick

Six months of running from one grimy bolthole to the next, but now the hunt had subsided and he could finally start living. Of all this aspects of civilisation he would miss when it was gone, this was probably the biggest one. Torchwick brushed a speck of imaginary lint from the sleeve of his immaculate new suit. He'd had to go out alone of course; once, on a supply run, Emerald had used her semblance to trick him into taking a ghastly paisley suit; Neo had found the whole thing so funny he suspected she would leap at the chance to repeat it. From that moment he resolved never to go clothes shopping with an illusionist. Common sense, really.

Stepping out into the alley, he closed his eyes to feel the sun on his face. A gentle breeze wafted past carrying the scent of roses.

"Surprise!" the girlish voice shattered his peace like fingernails dragging down the chalkboard of his soul. Opening his eyes he was greeted by the appalling sight of Ruby Rose leaning nonchalantly on her scythe, blocking the rear end alley. He turned quickly to check the other escape.

"Fancy meeting you here" Weiss flicked her rapier experimentally.

Roman tested the door handle behind him. He wasn't surprised to find it unresponsive, it was shaping up to be that kind of day. But there was still a chance... suddenly his weapon was ripped violently from his grasp. He watched helplessly as it shot to the mouth of the alley and came to rest at the feet of a third familiar tormentor.

"Mr Torchwick" Glynda nodded at the now despondent rogue.

"How did you find me?" At least it must have been an epic chase. As he raised his hands he caught sight of a final bit of evidence that his life had become one big cosmic joke. On the opposite side of the street was a cafe table, complete with still steaming cups, by chance positioned with a clear view down the alley. Foiled by another stupid coincidence.

A/N: That covers Torchwick being alive and in prison. I think this is all I have for the moment


End file.
